The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Brookfield Property Partners and the Gotham Organization dominated the top 10 projects filed in New York in March. Both companies had multiple projects appear in the top 10 last month. Brookfield had three projects in Greenpoint at 221 West Street (which took first place), 1 Eagle Street and 15 Eagle Street, while Gotham Organization had two projects in Long Island City at 1-15 57th Avenue (which took second place) and 57-28 2nd Street. Overall, the […]

Ares Management bought JPMorgan Asset Management’s majority stake in the rental portion of Aqua Tower, the wavy Jeanne Gang-designed building that presides over Magellan Development Group’s Lakeshore East district. Los Angeles-based Ares paid nearly $190.5 million for the stake in the building, according to Cook County property records. Magellan held onto its partial stake. The 86-story tower has 474 apartments and 224 condos above the 334-key Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel. All three sections of the […]

Small homeowners swept up in the city’s aggressive enforcement of short-term rentals, like Airbnb, are getting hit with steep fines. Owners of one- and two-family homes in Brooklyn have been issued more than $2.1 million in fines under the de Blasio administration, The City reported. That’s 27 percent of the total $7.8 million in fines issued in the borough during that period. Homeowners in Queens paid a larger share: $1.7 million in penalties made up […]

To spur sales amid a tough market, Extell Development said it will waive common charges for up to a decade at One Manhattan Square, an 815-unit tower on the Lower East Side. Yes, 10 years. The unprecedented incentive is just the latest sign of how hard it’s become to sell new development condos in Manhattan, where inventory has been piling up amid weaker demand. “I’ve seen some pretty insane incentives before but that tops it […]

The Bitcoin bubble seems to be inflating and deflating each month, but some major banks are more certain about the future of blockchain, especially when it comes to real estate transactions. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland Group are among 40 companies that have signed on to test a new property-trading platform developed by real estate blockchain startup Instant Property Network, according to Bloomberg. IPN isn’t the only game in town, but few others have […]

Westchester developer Michael D’Alessio was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday morning after pleading guilty in November to defrauding investors in his New York development projects. D’Alessio, the former CEO and president of Michael Paul Enterprises, was accused of funneling more than $58 million of his investors’ money to shell accounts under his control and using these funds to pay off gambling debts, cash out early investors and cover other debts. He was […]

INVESTMENT SALES IN MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN Manhattan investment sales continued a two-month slide in February with $2.23 billion in deals recorded — 17 percent below the 12-month average and down a quarter from the previous month. The top sale of the month went to WeWork, which closed on its $850 million acquisition of the Lord & Taylor building after months of delays. Brooklyn’s investment sales market had a slow February as well, with recorded deals […]

In another sign of continued interest in the Bronx’s investment sales market, Connecticut-based development firm Dynamic Star picked up a riverside parcel in the borough last week for $31.5 million. The sellers were a group of individuals from the Lasala and other families, PincusCo reported. Though the developer’s Twitter account refers to the site at 320 West Fordham Road, once marketed as Fordham Landing, as “a life science center for the cell and gene therapy […]

Here are a bunch of real estate events coming up next week! On April 9, Commercial Observer is holding its 3rd Annual Spring Financing Commercial Real Estate Forum at the Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60th Street from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event offers chances to network, as well as discussions on the changes and opportunities defining the industry in 2019. Speakers include Aaron Appel of JLL and Ronnie Levine of Meridian Capital Group. […]

 Trying to keep up with the latest projects underway in New York City? Check out The Real Deal’s new interactive map, where you can track more than 16,000 buildings in various stages of development across the five boroughs. This critical resource is for subscribers only, so if you haven’t joined us yet, sign up now. The map is updated daily by TRD’s data team and shows projects in every phase of development, from the moment plans […]

Here’s some good news for anyone whose credit scores aren’t quite as high as they’d like them to be: Three new financial tools have come to market — or soon will be available — that could give your scores a shot of adrenalin when you need it most. These aren’t “credit repair” rip-offs, where you shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars to sleazeball companies. Far from it. All three tools come from well-established players: […]

Former Trump Organization associate Felix Sater tried to buy the site now eyed for Related Midwest’s The 78 megadevelopment, but couldn’t convince disgraced political fixer Tony Rezko to sell the land. Sater is the Russian-born developer whose Bayrock Group helped finance the Trump SoHo hotel in Manhattan. In the early 2000s, he offered $175 million for the 62-acre riverfront site in the South Loop, former Rezko business partner Daniel Mahru told the Chicago Sun-Times. The […]

This apartment’s original listing price of $120 million was called “offensive” by one broker. Now the luxe co-op belonging to Susan Gutfreund, the widow of the late “King of Wall Street” John Gutfreund, is back on the market for half that price. Serena Boardman at Sotheby’s International relisted the 22-room apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue with an asking price of $59 million, according to StreetEasy. That’s a price drop of more than 13 percent off […]

SoftBank mulls adding $15B to giant Vision Fund Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group is considering adding an additional $15 billion to its $100 billion Vision Fund and may end up raising capital for another fund, Bloomberg reported. Since 2017, SoftBank has invested $70 billion from its Vision Fund in technology-focused real estate startups like Compass and the We Company, both of which have made a number of acquisitions within the past year after receiving such funding. Sources told Bloomberg […]

As the luxury market slump drags on, Ceruzzi Properties is listing a new penthouse asking a steep $39.9 million. The duplex penthouse is at the under-construction Centrale on 138 East 50th Street, the Wall Street Journal reported. The pricey listing comes as high-end properties have been lingering on the market and taking price cuts. In the first quarter this year, Manhattan’s luxury segment had 24 percent less sales volume compared with a year earlier, according […]

The city this week is expected to close on a $173 million deal to purchase 17 buildings and convert them into affordable housing. But watchdogs and public officials say the deal raises questions about conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency. The de Blasio administration opted to buy the buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx two years ago from the Podolsky brothers, two landlords with a long record of violations who are currently under […]

One more indicator of a housing market slowdown: More homes are being sold at prices below asking. That’s according to a new first-quarter report by housing investment startup Knock, Bloomberg reported. The results could also be an indicator of the cities most at risk from the market cool down. Miami led Knock’s top 10 list, with about 88 percent of single-family homes purchased after the seller lowered the price. Chicago ranked second, with 82 percent […]

Six months after the Four Seasons Restaurant moved out of the Seagram Building and reopened on East 49th Street, a trio of developers dined before the lunch rush hour, digging into halibut soaked in mushrooms and vegetable pot-au-feu while sipping on $12 mineral water. This was the setting of The Real Deal’s second “Power lunch” — a lively conversation with former governor-turned-developer Eliot Spitzer, Josh Schuster of Midtown-based Silverback Development and Matthew Messinger of the […]

The former head of the New York City Housing Authority’s elevator division says he was wrongfully fired from the agency, arguing that there was no evidence he violated NYCHA’s anti-discrimination policies. Ivo Nikolic, who oversaw the elevator division from 2016, said he was initially suspended in February after an anonymous email sent to the agency from a purported employee claimed that Nikolic had engaged in sexist, racist and anti-semitic behavior. But following an internal investigation, […]